


The Understanding from Five

by Itsmy_world



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Danny has a bit of self hatred, Im not sure I’m it applies but, It’s from hitting his head, Self-Harm, but I’d rather put it than not, ill add more tags if i think of them, its also only in one paragraph so it’s not the focus of the story, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25302652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itsmy_world/pseuds/Itsmy_world
Summary: Danny does try. He swears up and down that he’s putting effort. But sometimes it’s too much and his mistakes only paint a poor picture.-Or Danny receives poor news, and his mom doesn’t take it well.
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Maddie Fenton
Comments: 3
Kudos: 61





	The Understanding from Five

In all honesty, perhaps it had been his fault or the long run. At least, Danny thinks it is. He’s not one hundred percent sure or anything but this, he’s starting to believe it might have been his fault.

It wasn’t a long story but it certainly felt like the plots had been building for years. One tragedy after another, another failure to follow. He thought things had been turning up but apparently there's only so much luck he could have.

Maybe it started in his sophomore year. He had been in a car accident with his mom. His side was hit first and he only barely saw it coming and he thought it would really be the end this time. He wanted to drive, but couldn’t bring himself to finish the drivers ed.

Maybe it was freshman year. He was stuck in the portal, his first tangle with death. Responsibilities began to pile in the form of ghosts, ghost powers, and a secret identity. His grades nearly didn’t survive the year.

It could have been just the year before this summer, junior year. His grades did a 180 the year before and found himself in three AP courses. History was his strong spot, but he thought he had a chance in computer science and English.

Maybe his whole life was just a joke. That felt right.

When Danny woke up that morning, he’d found himself shooting out of bed and to his IPad before anything processed in his mind. It took him a second, but when he remembered his AP scores came out that day his hands clammed up with sweat. His hands shook as he typed his password, and his heart sank as he saw his mistakes.

He should have expected it.

Tucker passed Comp Sci and english, but he didn’t take history. Sam passed English, history, and seminar, but didn’t take Comp Sci.

Danny knew the five point system. With quarantine in place, the tests were online and multiple choice was taken out. His lifeline was gone.

In front of his screen was a 1, 2, 3. Computer science. English. History.

He’d only passed one test.

Contrary to popular beliefs, Danny had fixed himself up as a student. He still got detention and he struggled in class, but obviously he’d done something right if he’d passed all his AP and honors courses that year. English had been his best subject even, formerly his worst. History wasn’t his strongest, but he passed. And comp Sci, although an online course that he found hard to focus on, he’d like to think he had learned something in the coding course.

So sitting at his desk with a pass in his hardest test and fails for the other two… it was hard to want to tell his parents. 

The hard thing was finding a way to tell them. His parents did eventually find real jobs as inventors and were out of the house often, which he thought would give him enough time to think of a gentle way to break it to them. Imagine his surprise when he saw them sitting at the dinner table at midday.

With a heavy sign and the foreboding of disappointment, he went out with it. “I got my AP scores.”

And his tone told them the rest. 

Surprisingly, his dad took it well. He even came to his room to tell him how he was proud of how much he’d done, how even with these tests, it wasn’t the end game and he’s going to keep improving. 

His mom stayed silent for most of it, and it was her words he dreaded. Her visit didn’t include any kind words. A few that stuck with him were “cocky”, “arrogant”, and his favorite “wasting our hard earned money”. It wasn’t her last visit.

An hour or so later, she called him to the lab. She seemed nice, offering words of comfort and a hug that he knew he didn’t have a choice to deny. It almost felt like he could breathe. She almost sounded like she understood. But the rest of the day still made him feel like he was dancing on glass. Third time's the charm.

He had been watching Netflix. He had been told to read a book but he wanted to finish the last episode, one he’d seen so many times before but always felt so connected to. He had gotten up to change books, the one he had in his hands not catching his interest at the moment. He hadn’t heard her footsteps. 

She lashed out. According to her, he was pretending to do what she asked. He wasn’t following through. He was wasting away in the summer. He should be doing something worthwhile. He should be doing his drivers ed. He hadn’t even looked at it, and she was tired and not going to drive him around forever and was he doing anything worth his time. Anything meaningful. 

(He has failed to mention to her that he was scared of driving. Or not scared. Nervous yes. Maybe scared. He was scared.)

He tried to use his voice again. He had forgotten how pointless an effort it was. He tried to stick up for himself and told the truth to her. She had to listen. She didn’t. She wouldn’t. Danny couldn't even get a word in. A stressful tear rolled down his cheek and her words lashed out tenfold. She said how he never tried and he disagreed but only her words were true to her ears and mind.

The boy of the matter doesn’t tell the truth in the concerns of his life.

His head was spinning when she left. She didn’t stay gone for long. This time he heard the footsteps, and he didn’t attempt to move from his bed where he lay numb. And the words spilled out for the fourth time that day.

This time, her words spoke of how hard she worked and how all he had to do was try, couldn't he try for them? Tears started to fall from her eyes now, and his started up again in a mocking follow the leader. She put a hand out so fast he jumped. She asked for $330. 300 for the APs, and 30 “for the driving test you’ll never take”. He accepted his fate and grabbed his wallet, pulling out the five fifties he had stored away, short eighty dollars. 

She knew he was short in physical cash now, and a devilish smile crept onto her face as she said he’d have to pull from his saving account. She would give him whiplash though as in the next second she’d slap herself in the face. This time he didn’t jump, it was a flinch and he knew it. Tears were pouring out both their eyes but only hers meant something. 

He’d find himself on the floor, grabbing the base of his bed as he hit his head against the board in a mixture of hesitance and confusion, crying out, asking what did she want.

He got ready for bed in a haze. He went through the routine of habit, and turned off his light without saying goodnight to anyone. He closed his door, turned off his light, and looked at his ceiling.

His eyes were wide open and he saw the first time she opened the door to the dark room to grab a cup she had forgotten in her fourth rant.

His eyes remained the way when she returned for her fifth and final talk that day. She opened the door slowly, asking if he was awake. He almost choked on his yes.

She said sorry, for slapping herself, for yelling at him. She didn’t want him to go to bed upset. She just didn’t want him to waste his life away.

Danny’s mom left after that, and the tears that had stopped, came back again, and they would continue too. His thoughts were spinning with each other, bouncing around too loudly. He wondered if it was really his fault. These were his mistakes that led him here. He should have taken initiative.

He wondered why. Why couldn’t he understand? Why why why.

He mourned the night and cried for tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> Just another vent fic. It’s 3 AM and I just wrote this so it’s not exactly edited so apologies for mistakes.


End file.
